A RARE INSIDE-PAINTED 'CAMELS' GLASS SNUFF BOTTLEZhang Baotian Signed and dated Jihai year, corresponding to 1899, Beijing Painted on one side with three camels and riders, one dismounted, all below the inscription and seal, tian yin , the reverse with a village scene in a mountain landscape; stopper. 2 3/8in (6cm) high 己亥年(1899） 張葆田 玻璃内畫駝群鼻烟壺 北京 Provenance: Robert Kleiner, 1994 Sotheby's, New York, The Collection of Robert and Molly Hsieh, 23 March 2004, lot 195 Published: ICSBS Journal, Autumn, 1995, Front cover Exhibited: International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, Waldorf Astoria, New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 100 This is a wonderful example of Zhang Baotian's hand. The scene of camels is a fairly rare one, however there is at least one other camel scene painted by the artist in a bottle dated to the preceeding year, 1898 in the Humphrey Hui collection, see Humphrey K.F. Hui, Lai Suk Yee and Peter Y.K. Lam, Inkplay in Microcosm, Inside-painted Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Humphrey K.F. Hui Collection , Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002, no. 97. The placement of the camels is almost identical but with a few obvious differences in positioning. The reverse side that depicts a waking village at dawn (note the cockerel on the thatched roof) was a popular one. See Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, Treasury, Vol. 4, Part 1 , Hong Kong, 2000, pp.194-198, no. 506, for a lengthy discussion of the artist. See also Humphrey Hui, Po Ming Kwon and Christopher C.H. Sin (eds.), A Congregation of Snuff Bottle Connoisseurs: An Exhibition of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Tsui Museum of Art , Hong Kong, October-November 1996, no. 288 for another rare Baotian bottle with camels from the Lutz and Hedda Franz collection dated 1897. See also , Hong Kong, 23 November 2010, lot 112 for a landscape bottle dated 1892.